Fixing Us || l.h

Chapter Forty-Two*

I just spent 14 hours at school am I required to go tomorrow?

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I spun around in my chair, waiting for everyone to come in, and by everyone I meant my band, Peter and some people I haven't met yet. "Dylan!" Peter smiles as he walks in. "Hola." I greet. "¿Como estás?" "Así, así." "You're supposed to say bien." He frowns. "Well I'm not bien." "Why?" "My mom." "I thought Luke would have made that better." "He did, sorta." A group of men walk in, carrying loads of papers.

"Miss Ryan, it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Greg Henley, but call me Greg." I shake his hand and he sits down across from me. "Sorry, my bands plane got delayed because of snow, they should be here any minute." I say quickly. "Don't worry about it." Greg smiles nicely at me.

My band comes running in, dropping coats and other stuff on the floor by the door. "Greg, this is Brad, Damian, Zach and Aaron." I introduce them to my band as they sit down. "Nice to meet you." Brad says, adjusting the hat on his head.

"Alright, so, it's going to take about a year to get all this set up, so the nearest first date we can give you is August or September." "I'm okay with starting then." I shrug. My band nods. "Alright, that's good, thats the earliest though. Now we need you to choose an opening act. You don't have to choose right this second, we just need you to choose between now and late January probably. That's when we can start announcing everything and begin selling tickets probably late February at the latest." Greg explains.

"For an opening act, would you want someone's who's famous, or like on the way or being discovered by touring with us?" Brad asks. "Anything you want! Almost everything's up to you, the only thing we plan is the locations. Any places you'd love to go?" "Omaha, I've always loved the fans there and the century link centers really nice." (Lol it's okay.)

The meeting went on, it was honestly kinda boring, like I don't want to sit here while the adults talk. That's exactly what I was doing and it was getting annoying. I sat back in my chair, swinging my legs back and forth. My phone started ringing loudly and I fumbled with it trying to see who was calling. "Sorry. I need to take this." I say, getting up quickly.

I leave the room, pressing answer on my way out. "What Luke? I'm in a meeting." "Um, I'm alone with Ashton and he's kinda having a panic attack and he's scaring me and I don't know what to do." "Did you call the other guys?" "Didn't answer." "His mom?" "It's 3 in the morning there." "Just, I don't know, give him the phone." I sigh.

I hear shuffling then breathing. "What's wrong Ash?" I ask. "I don't know." He mutters, breathing hard. "You need to breathe deeply, okay? Can you do that for me?" I ask, sliding down the wall. I hear him breathing and it slowly started getting steadier. "How are you feeling?" "Lightheaded." "Calm breaths, focus on something in front of you."

5 minutes later he seems relatively calm from what I can tell. "Can you tell me what brought this on?" "A dream." He answers quietly. "Can you expand?" "Anna." "You thought you were gonna end up being a bad father, right?" I hear him sniff, and when he spoke it sounded like he was close to tears. "I'm not even the one raising her and who is irresponsible enough to have a kid while on tour? My mom has to raise her and I'm doing nothing to help! I feel like it's more of my moms kid than mine!" He babbles on.

"Ash, you're a great dad, don't think for a minute that you're not. You keep the guys in line, you even keep me in line, and you'll do the same for Anna. I get that these first few years are precious and you want to witness it, but you have a job to do and Anna wouldn't get as much attention she needs if you're the only one caring for her. Your mom will give her the attention she needs and when you're done with this tour she will help you but you'll have Anna to yourself. Okay?"

"Thanks Dylan." He sniffles. "You're welcome. Are you gonna be okay?" "I think so." "Good. I need to get back to a meeting, but I need to talk to Luke first." "Bye Dylan." I hear more shuffling then Luke speaking with a full mouth. "Hello?" "Gross." "You do it all the time. Shut up." I laugh, nodding even though he can't see me.

"Hey, can you keep an eye on Ashton? Just like, help him out? He's afraid he's being a bad dad-" "you rhymed." Luke laughed. "-Luke. And that he won't raise Anna the right way. Just kinda encourage him that he's doing the right thing letting his mom take care of Anna for now. But don't bring Anna up if it's unnecessary." "Got it. Anything else?" "Just that I miss you. My meetings boring." "Miss you too. When do you come back?" "Tonight." I sigh. "Fun." "Yeah, I gotta go though, love you Luke." "Love you too Dylan." I hang up, going back in the room.

I sit back down, Damian glancing at me. I shake my head, telling him not to worry. "Alright, so, by our next meeting, I need a set list and opening act." "Got it." I nod, putting my phone in my sweatshirt. "That's all for this meeting though. See you in a few weeks." Everyone leaves and I follow, Damian stopping me. "What happened?" "Luke started panicking because Ashton had a panic attack because he thought he was being a bad dad." "You rhymed." He laughs. I roll my eyes.

"You and Luke could be twins, I swear." I sigh. "Are you guys ready to go back to touring?" I ask, heading for the front door. "Yeah." They nod. We all walk across the street, not noticing the paps inside the small cafe. We walked inside, instantly getting blinded by the flashes from their cameras. "Oh shit." Aaron mutters, backing up a bit. I look around, seeing about 18 paps. Just ignore them. Luke's voice says in my head.

"Let's just get our drinks and go." I mumble, getting in line. I can hear the questions but I didn't answer them. The flashes illuminated the small shop, the many paps making it very crowded.

I ordered my coffee, tapping my foot impatiently, just wanting to get out. "Is it true you're cheating on Luke with Ashton?" "Is it true you're pregnant with Ashton's kid?" "Is it true you're only dating Luke for his publicity?" I froze, forgetting about my coffee and leaving the shop. I crossed the street, holding my breath to get myself to keep the tears in. They followed, still taking pictures. I went inside the recording building, stepping out of the view of the paps.

I pulled out my phone, trying to hold back the tears. Luke picked up on the third ring. "Hey, what's up?" "I swear to god if they make up another rumor about me and you I'm going to push everyone off a fucking cliff. First they surround me in the shop across the street, almost causing me to have a panic attack, and I'm also apparently dating you for your publicity! I can't fucking stand it Luke! The entire time I've been here they've been asking me about how I'm cheating on you or how I'm pregnant with Ashton's kid or how I'm using you for your fans or how me and Calum are fuck buddies or how Michael is leaving 5sos for my band! I don't understand what the fuck they have against me! They never ask you guys this stuff so why do they ask me?" I ask, finally letting all my anger out.

"Dylan, deep breaths, please." I couldn't breathe though, I'd given myself a panic attack from my anger. I couldn't seem to catch my breath, and I dropped my phone, my head feeling heavy. "Fuck, Dylan, don't pass out." I can hear Luke yell in the phone. But I blacked out.